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Nguza Viking’s low profile image in MaquisBy Valentine Marc Nkwame
The Socialism system in Tanzanian made it difficult for private ventures to survive, therefore driving Maquis, then a private band, to form its own cooperative society in order to continue operating in the country. The society acquired plots of land for farming, livestock and small scale business ventures that enabled the foreign band to go in sync with the "Ujamaa na Kujitegemea" policy. Maquis was so successful in this such that it was chosen to be the official band to play at the Mbeya held Peasants Day, then known as Saba Saba (Now Nane Nane) staged at national level in the region on the 7th of July 1978. After the Saba Saba show, Kiki penned yet another successful number "Safari ya Mbeya" (Our Journey to Mbeya) about the farmers holiday. Later, the band member summoned Kiki and made it very clear to him, that, despite his song-writing contribution, he was just a singer and not part of the then Orchestra Maquis Company (OMACO). Smitten, Kiki fought back with what was to became his all time classic, "Nimepigwa Ngwala" (I’ve been knocked down) which he did with Maquis shortly before he left the band. Early 1979 saw Dar es Salaam based businessman, Hugo Kisima putting together what was later to be known as Orchestra Safari Sound (OSS) band. It was shortly after the formation of yet another band, the Mlimani Park Orchestra. Now, Mlimani part was a 100 per cent Tanzanian band led by one, Muhidin Mwalimu (Ngurumo) and consisting of renown musicians, such as the guitarist, Joseph Mulenga, high pitched singer, Hassan Rehan Bitchuka, Shaaban Dede and Suleiman Mwanyiro, among others. This band with their purely Tanzanian style of Sikinde Ngoma ya Ukae (Sikinde the beat from home) was slowly but surely stealing the show from Maquis, a band made of 100 per cent Congolese musicians. Mlimani (Sikinde) churned out gigantic hits like, "Selina", "Kassim" and "Wacha Waseme" (Let them talk) in much faster paced beats that was eclipsing the slow "Kamanyola" style of Maquis. So in order to stand out among these two rather huge bands, the Congolese Maquis and Tanzanian Mlimani, the Dar businessman decided to go for the best of two worlds. Orchestra Safari Sound, initially led by a Zairean singer, Mbombo wa Mbomboka, consisted of both Congolese (Zairean) and Tanzanian musicians. After ditching Maquis, Kiki joined OSS and was soon chosen to lead the band. The honey voiced crooner then introduced the "Masantula Ngoma ya Mpwita" (Masantula beat from Mpwita) style for the Safari Sound band. Hugo Kisima’s business acumen here paid up greatly, the combination of Zairean and Tanzanian singers in one combo meant that OSS provided what both Maquis and Mlimani Park offered in their separate entities. In fact, throughout 1979 and1980, the country’s music scene here was dominated by the catch phrase, "Masantula Ngoma ya Mpwita". The Maquis camp was badly being threatened. By1980 it was ranking third in the popularity and even that position was being threatened by Tanzania’s legendary singer/composer, the late Marijan Rajab who had also ditched his Safari Trippers band and formed the Dar International. It was about this time that new large vehicles were being imported into the country, from Sweden. The trucks which were introduced in 1978, were known as SCANIA, but they actually became popular in the late 1979 and early 1980. The top of range for these trucks was the long chassed, large body truck (LBT) the Scania 111, heavy duty. Orchestra Maquis, now under Nguza Viking, after the band became "company" whereby its former leader, Chinyama Chiyanza headed the entire investment, leaving the band under Nguza Viking. Nguza then dropped the Kamanyola style and invented a faster style called "SCANIA LBT 111" as a way of showing that, Maquis was still " top of range," taking advantage of Scania’s new fame. By now,. The entire Maquis line-up could write and sing fluently in Swahili as it became evident in their moderately successful songs like, "Zoa" and "Kiongo". Nguza Viking with his guitar and tenor voice was a laidback personality, very modest and always let other band members enjoy the limelight of Maquis fame, while he kept behind the scene. But this was probably due to some rather scary, sinister speculations that started to haunt the band ... (to be continued)
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Orchestra
Maquis experienced internal conflicts in the late 1978 and early 1979 when the
band was undergoing transition to become a company.
